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Raimondo pushes to re-name Minaret Road

Mammoth Town Council member Michael Raimondo this past week began a push to re-name Minaret Road “to honor the (Dave) McCoy family.”

It was the second push by the council in the last five years to change one or more street names to reflect the influence the McCoy family has had on the town.

While the sentiment might be beyond argument, the cost for such a move is not.

According to the town staff, two Caltrans signs and about 20 town street signs would require replacement. The Caltrans sign replacements would total up to $1,000. Town sign changes would cost $6,000.

In addition, there would be about $1,000 in postage and noticing expenses, above and beyond any staff costs in connection with such a project.

“I don’t think we could spend money before we have it,” said councilwoman Jo Bacon, who argued the proposal should be a budget item.

The council voted unanimously to push the bill forward to its next meeting until a funding source can be secured. Those funds likely would be community generated.

In the agenda bill before the council on Wednesday, April 3, Raimondo suggested alternative-funding opportunities might include “potential support” from the public, business owners, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Mammoth Lakes Tourism, and the Chamber of Commerce, along with “other organizations.”

The staff noted that while the town’s public works department has a “limited” sign replacement budget from the general fund, it would not be sufficient to pay for the sign changes.

The staff suggested that if the town were to do it alone, it might want to apply for future Measure U sales tax monies.

The last time such a project came before the council was in March 2008, when council members briefly discussed changing the name of both Meridian Boulevard and Azimuth Street to honor the McCoy family.

However, the council took no action at the time, mostly because of the amount of money it would take to affect the change.

About 200 properties, including vacant land and condominiums situated along Minaret Road would be affected with a new address, according to the town staff report.